The knights were originally the heavy cavalry. The word knight came to be a title, usually given by a monarch, and was regarded as the lowest level of the nobility. A vassal was a person who had a relationship of mutual obligation with a lord. The vassal sword loyalty and obedience, and the lord granted land and protection in exchange. A vassal could be a knight, and a knight could be a vassal, but there was nothing saying they had to be.
A person who swore to be loyal and support a lord was that lord's vassal. The lord gave land and protection in exchange, so it was a mutual pledge and obligation.
Lords owned land, which they did not grant to their vassals, but they did grant the right to live and work on that land as tenants.
A vassal was a person in a state of mutual obligation with a king, which usually gave the vassal an estate, including manors. A serf was a person in a state of mutual obligation with the lord of a manor. As such the serf was possibly a person who worked on the estate of a vassal. Please see the links below.
A lord provided a vassal with a fief-a piece of land, and in exchange the vassal plowed the land and took care of it, getting a portion of the agriculture for his and his own family´s support, and a place to live. So basically land to live in and own support in exchange for serving the Lord
The most important gift a lord could give to a vassal was land. During the feudal age, the ownership of land meant wealth and prestige in a society where there was little money. With the land, a lord would also give serfs to a vassal.
a piece of land
They were the serfs.
a piece of land
A Vassal receives land from a lord
By the 9th century, the grant of land made to a vassal became known as a fief. This fief was typically given in exchange for the vassal's loyalty and military service to the lord. The vassal would then manage and develop the land, while owing certain obligations to the lord.
The lord gave land to the vassal, the vassal promised his loyalty and service.
A loyal vassal is the name given to a person who enters into an agreement with a monarch or lord. They give military support and protection in exchange for certain privileges such as being given land.
The Latin name for the land that was given to the vassal by the king or a lord in the middle Ages (during feudalism).
Give them land
The relationship between the lord and vassal, is that the lord gives a portion of his land to a vassal which is a knight; to provide military support and protection, before doing his duty the vassal swears an oath to be loyal to a particular lord and in turn the lord grant the vassal a portion of his land and riches. If a vassal manages to serve two lords who happened to wage a battle then the vassal must continue to serve both by sending half of his men to battle for the rival lord and the other half of his men to the other opposing lord. Disloyalty results in death.
Vassals agree to fight for the lord, and after an agreement is made the vassal is given a fief in the agreement.